Brexit: UK voters back referendum on final deal, poll shows
More than 40 percent of voters support ‘final say’ vote, YouGov poll reveals, before key UK-EU talks in October.
More UK voters are now in favour of a second referendum on leaving the European Union than those opposing another vote, a new poll has revealed.
The YouGov survey, published on Friday, showed 42 percent of voters believed they ought to be given a “final say” on leaving the 28-member bloc once the terms of Britain’s exit from it have been established.
Forty percent, meanwhile, opposed holding a second referendum, while 18 percent said they were unsure whether another vote should take place.
The findings, based on more than 1,600 responses, followed the launch of a petition calling for a referendum on the final Brexit deal by UK online newspaper The Independent on Wednesday.
“The people – on both sides – know so much more now than we did in 2016,” read the petition, which was signed by more than 300,000 people by the time of publication.
“The campaigns – again, on both sides – were flawed and clouded by misinformation. Many myths have been exposed. Now, we must check there is support for the facts of Brexit.“
The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, nearly three years after 52 percent of Britons voted in favour of ending the country’s 43-year membership of the bloc during a deeply divisive referendum in June, 2016.
October summit
On Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would take personal control over the country’s ongoing Brexit negotiations with EU counterparts, which may be concluded with a final agreement at an upcoming EU leaders’ summit in October.
May’s comments came just hours after newly installed Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said the government would take steps to ensure the UK has an “adequate food supply” as part of contingency plans readied should no deal be reached with the EU regarding the terms of any future relationship.
May’s ruling Conservative Party government was rocked by a series of high-profile resignations, including that of former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and former minister in charge of Brexit negotiations David Davis, earlier this month.
Johnson, a staunch supporter of the UK’s exit from the EU, said the country was “headed for the status of colony”, adding “the [Brexit] dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt”.
The resignations occurred just days after the prime minister secured approval from her cabinet to negotiate a “business-friendly” exit from the EU.